On December 24, 1929 President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou were hosting a holiday party, including the children of the President's aides and friends. In the hallway the Marine Band played Christmas songs. The President was enjoying the festivities when Ike Hoover, the White House usher, came into the room and whispered in the president’s ear. The president and his secretaries were needed immediately. Rarely has a crisis so immediately required the attention of the chief executive.
USS-Holland, generally recognized as the first modern submarine to be adopted by a major Navy, was a forerunner of the technology that is still central to naval warfare today. But its designer, John Philip Holland, would be nearly forgotten.